Friday, 25 January 2013

So snow is white, eh?

Good grief! I do a few projects, knit a few bits and all of a sudden I've not posted for forever! I must make a point of squeezing some time to post more...

We were forecast snow eventually in the UK, some would get it more than others, but we woke up last week to a small spattering, followed by an absolute deluge. A rare thing in our southeastern position. We seem to have our own little micro-climate which is more in line with Calais than the town 8 miles down the road! I do like snow- very much, but I don't like weeks of grey, sloppy slush, which is what we tend to get- a nice covering then a prolonged thaw out. Messy, and dangerous, ice over night, slush during the day.

However, the long thaw has been a bonus for me because I wanted to experiment with something since I read about it last year, and with little snow guaranteed I had to make the most of it... so as the snow slowly disappeared it was perfect yesterday for a bit of snow dying- or so I thought!Having planned for this some time ago I had all my supplies stashed away; Procion MX dyes, soda ash, salt, squeezy bottles, fabrics, and a few tubs. For a full tutorial of my dip into dying check out my How to- Textiles page... but here is a quickie

The fabrics are soaked in a soda ash solution to make the fibres more receptive to the dyes. While this was happening I gathered up the rest of my equipment and mixed the dyes.

These are the small containers with a bamboo fabric scrunched up in the bottom of each, snow piled on top and dye squirted over the snow. All the containers were left for over 24 hours, the sled was left outside to thaw naturally, while I brought the small ones in overnight.

This is a close-up of one of the bamboo pieces, thrown into the container with excess dye from the mixing. Not too bad considering it was most of the colours together.. it is brown, but so many shades and patterns! I did quite a few pieces, one of which I have to cut into 12" squares for a Fabric Swap I'm hosting on Stitchin Fingers. We're all trying new techniques and swapping our results- what a perfect way to create a unique stash and find techniques we've not tried before... this is our first month so I'm really excited and can't wait to see what everyone else has done! The sled was a little more fun... not only did it not thaw out outside, when I brought it into the kitchen it still didn't want to thaw! What does that tell you! I did cheat in the end and hurry it along.... the results are over on the How to page.If you want to try this but don't have the luxury of snow you can use ice with dry dye... that's my next project once the fabric arrives. Why not have a go?

Thankyou girlies! Some came out better than others, but I plan another round soon with ice, to use up the dye I have left in the bottles... I'm just waiting for a 2m piece of fabric to arrive...soon I hope!

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About Me

I am a chronic multi-media schitzophrenic! I love new materials, and I love to play. My husband says I have an "Artistic compulsive disorder". Can't say I disagree!
I am currently working towards a BA(Hons) alongside running a gallery and local art group- WCCG.
I specialize in acrylics, felting and chainmail.